Textron Aviation Citation Jet Deliveries Rise 21% in Third Quarter as Engine Shortages Linger

PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island, United States, 29 October 2026 – Textron Aviation handed over 51 Cessna Citation jets between July and September, a 21% rise on the 42 it delivered in the same quarter last year, parent company Textron said on Thursday in its third-quarter results. Deliveries of commercial turboprops, the Beechcraft King Air and Cessna Caravan families among them, dropped to 32 from 39.

Textron chief executive Lisa M. Atherton said in the release: “Higher jet deliveries at Textron Aviation and program execution at Textron Systems drove double-digit revenue growth at each of these segments.”

The numbers

According to Textron’s quarterly 10-Q filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission:

• Revenue: $1.7 billion for Textron Aviation, up $201 million or 14%, with aircraft sales up $152 million and aftermarket parts and services up $49 million
• Segment profit: $179 million, up 4%; Textron says higher volumes were partly offset by manufacturing inefficiencies
• Nine months: 128 Citation jets and 111 commercial turboprops delivered, against 122 and 103 in the first nine months of 2025
• Backlog: $8.0 billion at the end of the quarter

Across the whole group, Textron reported revenue of $3.8 billion, up 4%, and raised its full-year 2026 adjusted earnings outlook to $6.55-$6.65 per share, from $6.40-$6.60. The company linked the higher outlook mainly to US Army funding for Bell’s MV-75 Cheyenne tiltrotor program, not to the jet business.

Which Citations were delivered

AIN, which reported the model-by-model figures, says the Citation Latitude midsize jet led with 11 deliveries, level with a year earlier. Deliveries of the entry-level M2 Gen2 doubled to 10, and the large-cabin Longitude rose from five to nine. The CJ4 Gen2 slipped from nine to seven, no XLS Gen2 jets were delivered (four a year earlier), and five Citation Ascends were handed over, a figure FlightGlobal also reports.

On the turboprop side, AIN lists 17 Caravans (20 a year earlier), 14 King Airs (15) and one SkyCourier (four). Textron delivered no Beechcraft T-6 military trainers in the quarter, against five a year earlier.

Supply problems are easing, not gone

FlightGlobal describes Textron Aviation as still held back by engine and parts shortages. Speaking on the results call, Atherton said parts availability is back to roughly where it was around 2021, according to AIN, and that the remaining bottlenecks are engines, extrusions, spars and GPUs. “We’re not where we were in 2019, but we are getting closer to the parts availability that we saw several years ago,” she said.

Textron has qualified a second supplier of wing spars, which Atherton expects to start contributing next quarter, AIN reports. She did not give delivery guidance for 2027, saying it was too early, but said her aim is to move toward around 200 deliveries a year.

Atherton also told analysts that demand for both jets and turboprops remains strong, with Textron Aviation taking its highest third-quarter orders since 2023, AIN reports. Chief financial officer David Rosenberg said the segment is on track for the low end of its 11% to 12% profit margin guidance.

What comes next

The next Citation models are the Gen3 versions of the M2, CJ3 and CJ4 light jets, which have logged more than 1,200 flight-test hours, according to AIN. Atherton said the program is in function-and-reliability testing and that the first entries into service should come in the first half of 2027. The Beechcraft Denali single-engine turboprop has passed 4,200 flight-test hours; Textron did not give a certification date. Our guide to every Cessna Citation model explains how the line-up fits together.

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Sources: Textron third-quarter 2026 results release (SEC filing), 29 October 2026; Textron Form 10-Q for the quarter ended 3 October 2026; AIN, 29 October 2026; FlightGlobal, 29 October 2026.

Featured image: FlyingFuel graphic using a photo of a Cessna Citation Latitude at Frederick, Maryland by Acroterion, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.